Abduction
by CMDR-Lane
Summary: The crew of the USS Alpha Sinlari discover they are in a communal dream and must escape it. Short story.
1. Chapter 1

The premise was simple enough… I haven't written anything good in a year. I was sitting at my desk doing nothing (as always) and came to the realization that I needed to do something to jump-start myself back into writing. I need to finish all of my current stories, but I feel in order to do that I need to write a new one. Instead of the current fashion of my writing, incremental updates over time, I'm going to write an entire story in one day from start to finish. The plan is not to leave my computer until it's posted on . Let's get started, shall we? *Edit… it took me four days. But I did it, none the less =] Enjoy!

**One**_** – Fifty-Two Years after Nemisis**_  
**USS Alpha Sinlari  
NCC-8414-925-B  
Delta Kimos star system - Gamma Quadrant**

Captain Anton Contreras was listening to his breath as he ran. It was heavy… concentrated… controlled. He was trying desperately not to stop and collapse onto the ground in a fit of gasps for he had been pushing himself too hard. He knew he couldn't keep it up much longer but conditioning his heart the old fashion way was something that he cared about. Fitness in general was something that a lot of Starfleet Captains let slide once they reached the rank and he was determined not to let that happen to him.

The running track gave way into a squishy bounce as he ran… something he appreciated immensely. He knew that his endurance probably wouldn't have held up thus far without the professional grade track. That, and nobody was around to watch him suffer in the private holosuite. Anton always enjoyed running alone, but lifting with company.

"_I'm such a weird person." _The thought crept into his head which caused him to laugh. The laughter was painful so he slowed to a walk. "That's enough exercise anyway." He said to himself as he wiped the sweat off his face and tried to normalize his after-work out panting.

_"Bridge to Contreras." _Anton smiled at the familiar voice as it filled the air around him. It was Ensign Troy Del Rio, the communication officer. Troy was the only person on board that pronounced his last name correctly.

"Go ahead, Troy."

_"Captain we are receiving a long-range hail from the _Galacon. _It's urgent." _Ensign Del Rio had a hint of fear in his voice that Anton had not noticed before. He stopped walking and nodded.

"Understood, standby Bridge, Anton out. Computer end program and beam me to the bridge."

Captain Contreras blinked and found himself standing in the middle of the command center of the _Alpha Sinlari_. He wiped more sweat off of his face and turned around to Del Rio. "Put them up." He said quickly and caught a glance at his first officer, Rebecca Bensing. She had a neutral expression on her face that didn't reveal much. He shrugged her off mentally and eyed the viewer. The bridge of the _Galacon_ flicked up before his eyes. Captain Jonathan Schwer immediately came into view.

"Captain Schwer, my communications officer says it was urgent?" Anton asked as he crossed his arms.

"Captain Contreras… we received a distress call from Starfleet Command a few hours ago." Anton raised his eyebrows when Jonathan stopped talking.

"From Starfleet Command? What was the problem?"

"We still don't know. It was an automated message… it's gone now. They're all gone now."

Anton studied his face. Jonathan was a young captain like Anton they were both in their early thirties. He didn't really know the man personally but the more he stared into his eyes he could see there wasn't much behind them. He looked almost dead inside.

"What do you mean they're all gone now?"

"We responded to the distress call… we jumped into the sector… and it's all gone."

"Could you please clarify?" Anton heard the annoyance in his first officers voice as she stepped up behind him and ask the question.

"Sector 001 is gone. Earth, Mars, Saturn, the _sun_… it's all gone. The entire sector is just gone."

"Jesus Christ." Anton whispered. "We are coming to assist, standby _Galacon._ _Alpha Sinlari_ out." He walked down to the helms station. "Jump us to the _Galacons_ location now." He turned to his first and second officers. "Rebecca, Tyler, meet me in transporter room two in ten minutes."

--

The _Alpha Sinlari _jumped back into normal space with ease and took cruising position next to the _Galacon_. Moments later Captain Contreras and his first and second officers materialized in a transporter room aboard the _Galacon. _Captain Schewer and his first officer stood to greet them.

"Captain." Jonathan nodded at him and lead point exiting the room . Anton fell in step beside him. "We collected all the sensor data we could and then jumped back out of the system. I wanted to raise as many ships as I could and inform them of the situation. Given your vessils specialized sensor cluster you were the first I contacted."

"How many ships responded to the initial distress call?" Anton asked as all the officers entered a turbolift.

"Observation Lounge." Jonathan said quickly to the turbloift controller. "We were the only one. It doesn't make any sense, there are hundreds of ships located within range of the distress call and yet mine was the only ship to arrive back home." They paused when the lift came to a halt and everyone exited to the observation lounge.

"Did you try to contact anybody when you arrived and nobody was there?" Captain Contreras asked as he and his crew sat down to face the sensor display while Captain Schwer approached the screen.

"Of course we did. I sent out a broadcast hail to any ship in range. Nobody answered… " Schwer replied as he punched a button on the display. A starchart appeared on the monitor. "Problem is that long range sensors detect Starfleet ships throughout all the surrounding systems." Anton stood up and approached the screen.

"This makes no sense. Can you show me the sensor readings you collected at sector 001?"

Captain Schwer nodded and changed the screen. Anton studied the readings in silence for a minute… he was equally as confused. "There is no gravimetric distortions, no tachyon or croniton residuals. It's just empty space."

"Exactly." Schwer replied with a stone cold face. Anton swiveled on his heel to face his first and second officers.

"Rebecca, Tyler? Anything to contribute?" Both of them just stared blankly at him lost in thought. "I'll take that as a no." Anton turned back to Captain Schwer. "I want to jump the _Alpha Sinlari_ back to sector 001 and run some more detailed scans. Would you be okay with investigating some of the closer ships that are showing up on sensors and determine why they are not responding to hails?"

"Yeah… we can handle that." Schwer said slowly. Anton shook his head… _"The man is destroyed inside. I'm going to have to be careful to not let that happen to my crew."_ "We'll show ourselves out. How about we rendezvous back here in four hours?"

"Agreed." Schwer nodded at him. Anton ushered his officers out of the room and they walked slowly back to the transporter room. He looked at them both and could see their attention was drifting. He could tell it was time for a quick pep-talk.

"Commanders." He said quickly as he stopped in the middle of the corridor. They looked up at him in question. "I understand that you both have connections on earth. We all do, but for us to do our jobs and find out just what the hell happened, we all need to be at one hundred percent. Can I count on you both to stay alert and push your thoughts aside for the next four hours?"

"Yes sir." Rebecca nodded. He turned to Tyler Parcell.

"Of course sir." Commander Parcell nodded his head slowly.

"Excellent then." They walked in silence the rest of the way to the transporter room, and back to the bridge of their ship. Anton noticed the streak on the viewscreen as he entered the room. The _Galacon_ had just warped away. "I want all sensors recording from this point on. Helm, lay in a course to Sector 001… maximum warp. Engage."


	2. Chapter 2

**Two - Sector 001**

The _Alpha Sinlari_ streaked out of warp and into an empty star system. Captain Contreras frowned as he stared at the main viewer… he had hoped there had been some sort of misunderstanding. Turns out the truths he had been fed were correct.

"Verify our position." He muttered over to his second officer.

"Sensors show we should be staring at earth." Commander Parcell replied in a deadpan tone.

"That's what I was afraid of. Are sensors picking up anything at all?"

"Empty space." Parcell said slowly as he stared at his panel.

"Okay I guess we are going to have to do this the hard way. I want sensor resolution increased as much as possible; we are going to start a standard alpha-grid search pattern, doing full sensor sweeps as we go of the entire sector. If so much as one electron looks suspicions – I want to know about it."

"Understood sir." Commander Rebecca Bensing nodded as she stood and approached the science station.

Anton watched her walk and shook his head. It felt wrong, the entire scenario. _Planets just don't disappear_. _Not without leaving some sort of sensor evidence. Not just planets but even stars? I suppose if the sun was forced to go nova it could destroy the entire sector? No but that would leave a trail. A plasma wake, increased gravimetric readings, for Christ sakes… something!_ Anton jerked slightly when his helm officer coughed. It made him look around the room and really study his surroundings. He knew his ship inside and out – even though he was a new captain he was among the most experienced he knew. His brain was on fire telling him something just wasn't adding up. He stood up suddenly – even surprising himself. "Commander Bensing – a word?"

Rebecca looked down at him and nodded. She followed him towards the ready room doors when he stopped. She stopped too and raised her eyebrows. "Commander," He paused for a moment as he stared at the bridge crew all doing their jobs. "you're a smart person." Anton stopped in thought. Rebecca suddenly had an interesting expression on her face.

"Well sir, I'd certainly like to think so from time to time." She replied. "What's up?" She narrowed her eyes as she studied him.

"Something's off."Anton Contreras said quietly.

"So you see it too?" She whispered the soft reply. He shot his eyes over to her making contact.

"What does this remind you of?" He said slowly. The moment she spoke he finished her sentence.

"The _Kobayashi Maru._" They said in unison. Anton nodded. "The terms are different but the premise is basically the same. It's like a psyc test… we have been presented with a scenario designed to test how we handle the situation. I'd be inclined to believe the reality of the situation if we actually had sensor readings…" He trailed off.

Rebecca nodded and continued his thoughts. "The _Galacon _is what tipped me. We were on the other side of the galaxy minding our own business when they hailed us? I mean why the _Alpha Sinlari?_ We are a long-range science vessel… It makes no sense for them to contact us specifically."

"Schwer mentioned our sensor cluster… but now that I think of it most of the ships in the fleet are equipped with the same sensors. The _Enterprise, Utopia, Intrepid, Chesterfield, _and the _New York _just to name a few off the top of my head. All of them should have been closer anyhow."

"So what do you think is going on?" Rebecca asked quietly as she looked into his eyes.

"I'm not sure but whatever it is… whatever this is…" Anton gestured towards the empty viewscreen, "… it isn't the whole truth. We're missing a big piece of the puzzle." Anton nodded at her and started towards the science station. "Lieutenant – anything on sensors?"

"No sir not yet." Came the reply. Anton shook his head and sat down. "Okay we aren't doing this anymore." He glanced around at the confused looks of his command crew. He caught a quick glimpse from Rebecca who nodded.

"Sir?" Commander Parcell raised his eyebrows as he looked over at him.

"You heard me. Helm, all stop."

"All stop." His helmsman replied.

"Discontinue sensor scan."

"Yes sir." The science officer replied. Anton nodded as he looked around his bridge. Everyone except Rebecca had a very bewildered look on their faces. His eyes finally rested upon Lieutenant Rich Valdez – the _Alpha Sinlari_ tactical officer.

"Rich, tell me something, when was the last time you got to shoot at something?"

"Been a while, Captain." Lieutenant Valdez replied with his eyebrows raised.

"How long do you suspect?" Anton asked him in an almost playful tone.

Rich glanced down at his panel for a half a second as he recalled the weapon discharge logs. "One year two months nine days. We fired on a Ferrangi trading ship that just wouldn't disengage their warp dampening field."

"I remember that." Anton thought for a moment. He suddenly sat up straight with fire in his eyes. "Red alert, shields up." He stopped breathing for a few seconds to listen to his crew. Even as confused as they were they followed his bizarre orders. "Arm all phaser banks, fifty-percent yield. Full spread, zero elevation and scan for any impacts. Fire when ready."

"Conditions set… firing phasers."Valdez replied. Anton closed his eyes and listened to the muffled energy discharges. He smiled when he heard the tactical panel start a wild chirp. "Captain, sensors register impact at four-two-four m/ark six-one. _What the hell?_" Anton opened his eyes when Lieutenant Valdez raised his voice at the end of his sentence. "Eight _Sovereign-_class ships de-cloaking!"

Anton raised his eyerbrows as he saw it happen on the viewscreen.

"That was unexpected." He heard Commander Rebecca Bensing mutter behind him.

"Captain, they are charging weapons!" Valdez yelled quickly.

_Eight cloaked _Sovereign-_class ships? That's too irregular. _"Lower shields." He heard himself whisper aloud.

"_What?!" _Bensing and Valdez yelled at the same time.

"Trust me on this." He replied. "All cards on the table. Shields down… now." He stood up as he heard the snap of the shields falling. Anton squinted his eyes as he stared at the viewscreen and the armada of identical ships. "Your move."


	3. Chapter 3

**Three**

The tension on the bridge could have been cut with a knife. Anton was standing tall facing the viewscreen holding his breath. He felt his face twitch when he realized breathing was a necessity and inhaled deeply. _Three point two seconds. _He thought to himself has he stared at the _Sovereign_-class ships on the viewscreen. _That's how long it takes our shields to go up. If they shoot us with phasers… well… _He let the thought pass. Phasers traveled at damn near the speed of light… a well thought-out shot to his ship without shields or armor in place would be the death of them all. _A colorite torpedo would take a good seven seconds to hit us from their position. That gives me a margin of…_ He snapped out of his thoughts when the lead ship dispatched a bright purple burst of light from its torpedo launchers.

"Inbound torpedo!" Rich Valdez yelled behind him. "Raising shields!"

_"Wait!_" Anton yelled, causing Rich to stop his finger right above the button on his panel. "Scan the torpedo!" He glanced back at Rich who with a question in his eye followed orders with his left hand - his right still hovered above the shield control keys. His panel beeped and his voice cracked with uncertainty.

"There's no warhead?" His voice rose slightly at the end. Anton nodded and turned back to the screen just in time to see the torpedo impact the front saucer. The bridge barely even shuttered. "Why…?" Rich muttered slowly. Captain Contreras started to speak when the fleet of ships all turned and warped away. They stood on the bridge in silence for a moment. Anton was formulating an idea in his head that was disturbing to say the least.

"Those ships weren't real." He said slowly. The entire bridge was silent as all eyes were on him. "I don't think any of this is real… except us. We are all the same, it's our environment that's changed."

"Sir, what do you think is going on?" Anton turned around to his helm officer, a young ensign named Trent Michaels. It was so rare for the ensign to contribute to any bridge conversation that it almost startled Anton to hear his voice… Trent was obviously unnerved.

"I'm not exactly sure… and I know this might sound crazy but I remember back years ago reading a log report from the original _Voyager_, back when they were lost in the Delta Quadrant. This was decades before our jump drives, all they had were conventional warp and seventy-thousand light-years of space to cover. The crew had been tricked and their minds taken over into what was a sort of communal dream."

"Communal dream? You mean we are all here in mind but not body?" Commander Bensing asked quietly.

"That's what I'm beginning to suspect. It's like we are being fed scenarios to keep us occupied. The only problem is that none of them add up… it's all wrong."

"How do we test your theory?" Trent spoke again.

"I'm still working on that." Anton spoke softly as he sat down in his chair. He glanced up when Ensign Michaels spoke again.

"Computer, what year did Ensign Trent Alexander Michaels graduate from Starfleet Academy?" The young ensign asked, his voice now strong.

_"Ensign Trent Alexander Michaels graduated from Starfleet Academy in the year twenty-four twenty-nine." _

Anton started to say something when he stopped, realizing Ensign Michaels was about to speak again. He seemed to have an idea behind his eyes.

"Computer, how old is Lieutenant Valdez?"

_"Lieutenant Richard Terrance Valdez is thirty five years old." _

"Computer, how many books are on file in the Starfleet Master Library?"

"_Unknown._"

Captain Contreras shot out of his chair. "Ensign Michaels – excellent!" He slapped Trent on the back and turned around to the crew.

"I'm still confused." Valdez said slowly.

"It's simple. He asked the computer a question that he knew the answer too. Then he asked it a question you would know... then he asked it a question that _it should know._ And it didn't. We are not here… and this…" He waved his arms around the room, "…this is not real."

The bridge fell silent as the crew thought about the words just spoken. They all looked around at each other in blank confusion as Anton walked back to his chair and sat down.

Anton was the first to break the silence as he sat in thought. "Contreras to Doctor Perez."

_"Perez here."_ Doctor Alicia Perez spoke through the comm.

"Doctor could you please join us on the bridge asap?"

_"I'll be right up._" Her reply was followed by a quick burst of energy from the transporter pad by the aft turbolift. She stepped off with a tricorder in hand. "Yes sir?"

"Doctor, we are all asleep." Anton said bluntly.

"Okay." She replied, calm. Anton chuckled slightly at her response – from the brief few years his current command staff had been together they had encountered many strange things. Being that Doctor Perez was the one that patched them all up she had learned to just take what she was told at full value. She was used to the stranger things in the universe entering her sickbay and she handled it all incredibly well.

"We think that we are trapped in some sort of mental dream. How can we be woken up… how can we wake ourselves up from this dream without access to our physical bodies? Thanks to Ensign Michales here we now think that all of our knowledge is tied into the main computer, if that helps any."

Alicia frowned and leaned up against the wall as she thought. "Okay... I treated Lieutenant Ackerman in Stellar Cartography last year when he was knocked unconscious by a plasma burst with sound therapy because his body was resistant to normal stimulants from the plasma. There are certain audio tones capable of disrupting our REM sleep patterns… I used a modified audio tone to revive him from his coma. The human brain can retain a vast amount of information – the exact tone should still be in his mind."

"Do you think that will revive us?" Anton asked.

"It's worth a try."

"All right. Computer," He stopped suddenly when he realized he didn't know what to ask. "how do we recall that information?"

"Mind if I try?" Doctor Perez asked.

"Knock yourself out Doc."

Alicia squinted her eyes as she thought for a moment. "Computer… access the REM-disruption sound from Lieutenant Benjamin Ackerman's memory and play it back on the bridge speakers."

They waited in silence for a moment as the computer failed to respond. "Well it was a nice try-" Anton started to say when a piercing shrill rang out through the speakers inturrupted him.

"I think that's it!" Alicia shouted over the noise. Suddenly Anton felt his head filling with fog.

--

"Uump." He heard himself mutter as he rolled over and dug his nose into his pillow. He suddenly regretted it as the pillow smelled like death. He sat up slowly and felt all of his muscles ache with pain. Anton looked down at himself and realized he was deteriorating. His muscles had faded and he looked malnurisched. "Jesus." He whispered slowly and touched his face. A long bared covered his face. "How long…?" He muttered and stood up… something caught his arm as he stood. He looked down and found a crude IV taped to his arm. He quickly ripped it out and studied the room. It was his quarters, ever so dark. "Computer… lights." He muttered as he turned around and faced outside the window. "_Belay that!_" He yelled quickly as he saw the view. The lights flicked for a brief second and went back offline. He approached the window and cursed under his breath.

The _Alpha Sinlari _was landed in the middle of a crude industrial-city. Massive sky-scrapers dwarfed his ship outside with dark clouds and pouring rain streaming down the windows. He could see the smog outside the window – it was very strange. "This is not good." He muttered to himself. _I almost liked the fake reality better. _He turned around and walked quickly to his secret weapons stash. His two handheld and two compression rifles were housed securely where they should be. He sat a rifle on the bed and one in the bathroom. He took a quick sonic shower and ordered an energy bar from the replicator. Five minutes later he felt somewhat better, his stench removed and beard shaved. He still looked pale, but after downing a glass of water he felt ready enough to find out what the hell was going on. "Contreras to Bensing."

_"Communications are offline._" The computer responded to his request.

"All right. Ship status report?" He asked as he walked to the terminal on his desk. The screen flicked and displayed the report. _All crew accounted for, all in their quarters. Already figured that one out. No internal intruders – that's good. Main power… ah shit. Secondary – That's not good either. Wait how can the jump drive be online and our power reserves are that low? Whatever… I'll get to that. Stardate 42… holy "mother of God!"_ He jumped back from the terminal as he stared at the current stardate. "We've been out for a year?!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Four**

Anton was fuming as he grabbed the rifle from the bed and marched outside his quarters and into the hallway. He looked to his left and then right, and started a quick march towards the turbolift. The lights in the hallway were dimmed to their minimum level – it seemed the ship was barely using any power at all. He approached the lift and slammed the call button. He heard the car stop behind the door and he stepped in. "Commander Bensings quarters." He said quickly. He was having a hard time recalling the deck she resided on. His memory seemed to be failing him in strange areas ever since he had awoken.

"_Deck four._" The computer responded as the lift stopped and the doors opened. The corridor beyond was in the same shape as the one on his deck – dark. He walked quickly looking at the names on the doors as he went. He finally stopped at her door and pressed the button on the wall. There was no response so he pressed the button below it. The lock disengaged as it read his DNA and the door slid aside. The smell was identical as in his quarters – it smelled of rotting decay. He pushed himself in and saw her in her bed. Her eyes were open but glazed over. "Jesus, Rebecca!" He threw the rifle on the ground and ran to her. _Still alive._ He checked her pulse with his finger… her body was in worse shape than his. He jumped up and retrieved a medical kit from the underside of her desk and retrieved a hypo. "You're going to have one hell of a crash later but I need you now, Becks." Anton whispered to her as he pressed it to her neck. She was unresponsive for a moment… and then he noticed her breathing increase speed.

She suddenly jumped up and slammed against the wall. "What the hell!?" She said quickly as she backed up away from him, eyes wide. "Oh shit I feel like shit." Rebecca crashed back down to the bed and looked around. "I… you… you were right! We were asleep. How… how long?"

Anton shook his head slowly. "One year, two months."

"You're… you're kidding right?" She asked as she stood up slowly. She almost fell back to the bed as her legs were shaking. She approached the mirror in the bathroom – Anton let her answer her own question as she gazed into the reflection. "I look like an old woman." He heard her say from the other room. "Give… give me a few minutes."

--

Two hours later they had successfully revived the entire command staff and a few of the senior engineering staff. All of them were in horrible shape – but they were at least now on their feet and functioning for the time being. They all walked slowly, approaching main engineering. They could already see something was different about the room as they approached the clear double doors at the end of the hall. After they walked in, they all stopped and observed the alien technology that had been rigged into the Starfleet systems. Lieutenant David Carr stepped foreword and swore under his breath as he stared at the jump drive.

"What the hell did they do to my engines?" He muttered as he turned around to face the command party.

Anton met his gaze and shook his head. "Commander Parcell will stay with you and your crew to assist in the assessment. Don't unhook anything yet – just try to give me more power. I'd like to be able to get some more systems online so we can find out just where the hell we are and what we are facing. Whoever did this to us must think we are still asleep or else they would be on top of us already. See if you can give me at least sensors, shields and communication." Anton looked up at the alien technology attached to the jump drive and shook his head. "And find out how to get that shit off of the drive."

"You got it Captain." Lieutenant Carr nodded.

Anton turned around and pushed foreword back to the turbolift. "Deck one."

A few minutes later they all piled out of the turbolift and took their stations. The panels flicked on slowly. Rebecca leaned down to be eye level with her console.

"Captain, there is a lot of dust on these."

"I noticed that in my quarters. They must have dialed back the life support systems to consume less power." Anton replied as he sat in his chair. A plume of dust poofed out of the cushioning. "Everyone, status report on your individual systems. Just give me a simple break-down. Tactical."

Valdez stared at his panel for a moment before replying. "Nothing is online sir. I can't even pre-charge the shield emitters. Phasers are offline, as are torpedo launchers. I've got red all across the board."

"Lovely." Anton replied. "Helm?"

Ensign Michaels worked his board quickly and read the readouts before he spoke. "Okay I have power to maneuvering thrusters. Impulse is offline, warp is offline, jump is online but non-functional."

Anton turned to his OPS officer, Lieutenant Jaron Temec. "OPS?"

Jaron glanced up at him, then back down to his panel. He took the longest to reply as he sifted through the information being presented before him. "Okay quick breakdown? Environmental is at twenty-percent. The mains are running steady at thirty-percent. The entire power-distribution grid…" He stopped as he saw a new readout on his screen.

"Lieutenant Temec?" Anton asked as he stood up to look at his station.

"Captain… our entire power-distribution grid has been re-routed. It looks like the remaining seventy-percent of power being generated by our jump drive is being routed _outside_ the ship. My system can't track it."

Anton studied his panel and shook his head. "That explains why the jump drive is online but not doing much. All of its power output is being routed to that city." Anton spoke thoughtfully.

"Where are we?" Rebecca asked as she stood up. "Activate the viewscreen." The screen flashed on, revealing the industrial city outside.

"Jesus." Rich Valdez whispered as he stared at the scene beyond the viewer.

"Who did this to us?" Rebecca said suddenly and loudly. "I mean I'm kind-of pissed off about it!"

"Your thoughts are shared." Anton replied as he walked down to face the viewscreen. "Blast up all the external optical feeds, grid view." The screen suddenly divided out showing all views of the ship. Anton pointed to a specific square. "Enhance D-5." The feed changed to a view of the engineering section from the underside of the saucer. There was a massive hole cut into the side of the hull and several large power feeds running out of it.

"Well now we know where our power is going." Rebecca said dryly.

"Now we know why they did this. We probably use forty-percent of the power the jump core provides. Imagine what it could power if used to its full potential." Anton said as he shook his head. "They must have scanned us and decided they wanted our core. We provided no resistance when knocked into the dream state… we're lucky they kept us alive."

"We're going to have one hell of a shit-storm come down on us when we shut off the power to that pipe." Valdez said from his station.

Ensign Michaels swiveled his chair around to face Anton. "I can jump us out of here the minute the core comes back online for jump use. They can come at us all they want, it's not going to do them any good the moment I hit the jump key."

"Only problem with that is, we don't know where we are or who we are dealing with." Rebecca said as she glanced down at Michaels.

"He's got a point though." Anton replied to her. "We're going to have issues with that huge hole in our hull though. Emergency forcefields are going to have a hard time holding that big of a hole closed if we jump into space."

"I'll put us on earth then... or any one of the other thousands of Federation planets on file. A planet-to-planet jump is entirely possible."

"That could work." Rebecca replied slowly. "But how do we come back with the cavalry if we don't know where we are? If we start scanning the stars for a location lock we are going to be noticed in a hurry. And what if we are over the jump line? God knows where they took us, a jump to a Federation planet could be out of range."

Anton shook his head and sat down again in his seat. "So many factors." He muttered.

"_Carr to Contreras."_ Anton looked up and smiled.

"I see you got intraship communications online."

"_It was simple… they installed some piece of shit dampener into the system. I pulled it and systems started coming back online left and right." _

Rebecca suddenly looked worried. "How many systems, David?" Anton looked over at her and realized where she was going with it. He looked over quickly at Lieutenant Temec who seemed to read his mind.

"The mains just jumped up to normal. That power link is severed." He said quickly.

"_Well…_" Carr said slowly,_ "…pretty much everything." _

"Ah shit." Anton said as he looked over to Valdez. "Do we have shields?"

"Partial. Still no phasers… but…" He looked up and smiled, "Torpedo launchers are online."

"Shields up!" Anton said quickly as he looked down at Ensign Michaels. "Michaels – drive status?"

"Just went into the green sir. Give the word and I can get us out of here."

"Standby for a jump to any unoccupied m-class planet in Federation space... get us as close to home as you can."

"Yes sir!" He replied.

"Captain, sensors are picking up several small ships are approaching our location!" Valdez said quickly as his panel chirped.

"Lieutenant Temec, initiate an intersteallar scan. Try to determine our location – and hurry!"

"I'm on it!" Temec replied quickly.

"Mister Valdez, arm as many torpedos as you see fit. Standby to blow everything around us to hell." Anton said quickly and coldly.

"With pleasure sir. Although if we start shooting at the base of these buildings they are liable to fall right on top of us."

"Ensign Michaels isn't going to let that happen." Anton said as he glanced down at the helm station. He saw Michaels nod his head without looking back. He was still working his panel.

"The ships are almost on top of us!" Valdez said as he consulted his panel.

"Mister Temec?" Anton looked up to the ops station.

"I've got as good of a position guess as I'm going to get sir!" He said quickly. "I think I can get us back!"

"I'm going to take your word on that Jaron. Mister Valdez - do some damage!" Anton gripped his chair as everyone started to work their panels.

A brief second later multiple explosions rocked the ship. There was a bright flash and the viewscreen changed to a beautiful green field and blue sky. Anton stood up and nodded at Ensign Michaels.

"Fancy flying. Where did you put us?"

"Africa. My grandparents property… only place I knew the coordinates of an unoccupied piece of dirt on earth."

Despite what they had just been through, Anton laughed out loud. "Well you better give them a call and let them know they are going to have a crew of two hundred for dinner tonight."

"I'll get on that sir." Michaels returned his grin.

Anton shook his head and then turned to Rich Valdez. "How many torpedos did you use?"

Rich looked up from his panel and smiled wearily. "Half of our compliment."

"Jesus!" Rebecca gasped slightly. "That's over three-hundred!"

Anton raised his eyebrows. "How'd you do that?"

"Long-range transporters with the warheads set to auto-detonate. Sir, you did say 'do some damage.'"

Anton nodded. "That I did." He felt his stomach growl and was suddenly reminded of being in stasis for a year. "Someone get me Starfleet onscreen."

--

Four days later the _Alpha Sinlari, Intrepied, Northridge, _and _Bellerophon_ all completed a jump together and found themselves approaching a planet with a single orbiting space station. The station was quickly overrun by Starfleet Commandos only to discover it was deserted. The computers had been wiped clean. They then dispatched shuttles to the surface of the planet, discovering the massive destruction by the three-hundred colorite torpedoes, courtesy of the _Alpha Sinlari. _The rest of the industrial city had been deserted… nobody to be found anywhere. All of the technology had been stripped with no indication of who they had been dealing with.

_**The End**_


End file.
